Mitt Romney's Token Negroes Address the RNC

As reported in the Root,

That rainbow coalition of onstage GOP stars is scheduled to include in part: Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state whose boss, George W. Bush, is conspicuously absent from the proceedings; Mia Love, an African-American Mormon from Utah who is running for a U.S. congressional seat; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a purported finalist to join Romney on the ticket before Ryan was named to the second spot; a gubernatorial trio of Nevada's Brian Sandoval, New Mexico's Susana Martinez and South Carolina's Nikki Haley; and Artur Davis -- an African-American former Alabama officeholder, Democrat and Obama supporter -- who is a chief talking point for Republicans challenged on their diversity bona fides. (Missing is a favored son businessman Herman Cain, who rose high before flaming out during primary season.)

But it's doubtful that the multiethnic tableau will be duplicated in the sea of delegates shouting "USA, USA." That's been the case for years at conservative gatherings where -- despite featuring the song stylings of a Chaka Khan (at the 2000 convention) or the occasional gospel choir -- minorities, particularly African Americans, are also greatly in the minority.

In the Washington Post, African American Republican Raynard Jackson writes:

This is the fourth Republican convention that I have attended, and it is by far the least diverse. I now know what America would look like if all
(Mark Wilson - Getty Images) blacks and other people of color mysteriously disappeared. Reporters have been calling me, practically begging me to find them some blacks to interview for their various media outlets. Is this really the 21st century? I have not been showered with this much attention since I was a little baby!

But even more alarming than the lack of blacks as convention attendees, delegates or Mitt Romney staff members is the lack of blacks in the pipeline to be future party operatives.

Since there are so few African Americans at the Republican National Convention, people have started counting how many black people are attending. On Twitter, people are using the hash tag #negrospotting to describe that phenomena.

The GOP is largely a white, male, Southern political party that is openly hostile to the interests of African Americans, Latinos, women, the elderly, the middle class, the workers and the poor. No flowery speeches from Mitt Romney's token Negroes will change that ugly reality.